I wouldn’t expect you to understand Paul. You are not burdened by the albatross that is AJ. And no, Tim Wakefield does not even remotely qualify. He is your 80-year old utility pitcher forced into duty and playing for pocket change and a chance at a piece of Sox history. AJ is our 82-million dollar ostensible #2 starter supposedly still in the prime years of his career with “great stuff”. Take Carl Crawford’s performance-for-the-dollar this year, maintain it over the next 1.5 years, and let me know how you’ll feel about him then. This is no reverse jinx. It’s a cry for help.

Do u realize that of starting pitchers who have appeared in at least 25 games AJ has the worst stats pretty much across the board with the exception of Blue Jay-turned-Oriole Jo Jo Reyes? I do believe that after tonight AJ will be legitimately – statistically – the worst pitcher in the major leagues.

Well, Lester is having a stinker of a start.
Lets see how AJ is doing.
Odds are shortening fast on something unpleasant happening, seems to me.
Its not over, though.
K is still in Grand Guignol mode
When he cheers up, I’ll know its over………

Anyone who thinks we YFs are exaggerating how bad AJ is have simply not seen as much of him as we have and/or have not perused his stats. He is NOT John Lackey or Tim Wakefield. Honestly. You can call it reverse-jinxing, voodoo economics, or reality TV. But you really cannot relate. I envy you that.

Kay, Leiter, Singleton are struggling to explain how it is that AJ could be effective through 2.2 innings. “maybe he is just taking it one pitch at a time”… He has us all befuddled. Still, he’s not even out of the 3rd yet. I’ve seen this movie before.

On YES: an add for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert compilation. Those are some of the most incredible performances. Bruce and Bono doing I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For; Billy Joel and Bruce on Born to Run. Has anyone here seen Prince’s guitar solo from the My Guitar Gently Weeps from one of those induction ceremonies? It’s absurdly awesome. That is one awards/induction ceremony that I feel still lives up to the hype.

Is this the least dramatic September in baseball history? None of the NL races – not even the WC race, is closer than 6.5 games. And the AL playoff teams are all pretty much a foregone conclusion with the possible exception of LAA/Texas. Yawn.
Nice AB Jeter. Launch one Curtis…please…

It’s 1-0 dabize. And until AJ walks off the mound in the 7th inning with a lead, there is not a Yankee fan on earth who thinks we’re in a strong position. But yes, I’m very happy to see Lester close to triple digits on the pitch count before the 5th.
I actually like those Avis commercials with the Boston-accent-dude…

I don’t mean to offend anyone here, but when you get tattoos all up and down your arms, at what stage do you start regretting it? I mean, it can NOT look good past the age of 35 and almost never looks good up until that point.

Cano with another double, on pitch #100.
Gosh I love watching Cano play ball.
This game is fantastic in that I am getting to watch two of the best second baseman of my life time, in their primes, in the same game.

WHY ARE YOU BUNTING GOD-DAMNINTII!!!???!?!???!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I despise this. I DESPISE this. I’m sorry. WHAT THE F*&K?????? Swisher is a serious hitter and there was already one out!?!?! He had to havemessed up the number of outs. That’s hideous terrible and awful. God dam&*t

He forgot how many outs there are. It’s clear. Eveyrone is staring at him in the dugout and he’s shaking his head now. Oh my lord. That’s inexcusable. Completely utterly inexcusable. Not to mention you save Lester a few more pitches.

And Remy is absolutely right
To quote Bouton
“it was very important for him to get to 3rd, because he could score from there with 2 out
Of course, he could also score from 2nd with 2 out.
So he needs to go to 3rd like Frank Howard needs more muscles”

Not to mention Swisher is hot as hell right now. He has been slugging like a maniac the last week. I’m just at a loss. It’s a horrible play by him. And Jones walks. No need to challenge withMontero coming up I guess. Let’s go kid. Earn your stripes before you’re even 22…

Mike, Dabize, if you check out the Pitch F/X at Brooks Baseball you’ll see that A. the ump has given strikes off the plate (inside to righties/outside to lefties) and has not given the same on the other side. Indeed he has given 4 such off-the-plate srikes to Lester and only 2 to AJ.
B. He has also called balls that are inside the zone for both pitchers – and up until this inning he called 5 such “incorrect” balls for AJ and 4 for Lester.
Not to be a jerk, but I’m just saying, not only does it appear he has been consistent in what his zone is, but Lester has benefited more to this point than has AJ. Of course, Lester has thrown more pitches.

Here is exactly the situation in which Teixeira hiting between Granderson and Cano kills me. Why would Aceves go hard after Granderson??? He has the .220 hitting Teixeira (off RHPs) coming up. it’s not right.

If AJ can somehow get through this inning keeping it to one run, this will be his best start in forever an I’ll frankly be pleased regardless of the fact that they’re losing. After all, a boneheaded Swisher bunt and two fruitless bases loaded situations are not his fault. But him getting through this inning is a big fat IF…

Why is Girardi so in love with Boone Logan right now? I try to never question Girardi’s bullpen management – he’s superb at it. But I’d really rather not see Boone in this game no matter the situation.

Well Ironhorse if that is the case and I have no reason to doubt it, it has certainly had more of a negative effect on Lesters’ performance. In general, it has seemed to me the umpires have been really squeezing pitchers more this year. Just a qualitative observation.

Don’t talk to me about inconsistent strike zones after that massively important pitch right to the spot of the plate on that side that he has been calling a strike all night. Girardi with the sensibly quick hook.

ag, how low are our standards? The guy lasted 5.1 innings giving up 2 runs leaving two men on. But yeah, as Leiter just said, this was his best start in TWO months. And compared to Yankee starts all season vs. this team it was probebly top 3 or 4 of the season.

My theory is that AJ’s good outing means that neither the Yanks nor the Sox make the ALCS
The Yanks sigh with relief, start AJ in the DS, and he reverts to form.
The Sox shrivel with shame after failing to hit AJ, get croaked by Verlander and Texas and DET meet in the C series.
You heard it here first.

The Yankees called up Scott Proctor today. I think he came back to pick up the arm he left on the mound in 2006. Unfortunately they no longer play in the stadium so he’ll have to pitch with his feet.
1-2 hole for Montero.

See, we SFs know K – we’ve been where he seems to live all too many times.
So I have more faith in my prediction for the Sox than for the Yanks.
…….in the WHERE?
Guy must be both hung and horny for that to be true

Kay explains that Gardner didn’t pinch run earlier because Girardi knew Teix was out and so was going ot need to shuffle Dickerson/Swisher. Anyway, by sending Montero on that 3-2 to Martin it all worked out well and now Gardner is leading off the 8th, which is good. Full count.

Horrible Brett. Horrible. Picked off. Speaking of which – you know who is great at running the pickle? Jeter. He stays lateral until the last moment – don’t know why more guys don’t do that. Real buzz-kill there. Cano still up. Every batter seems to work the full count for these two teams. I swear, starting pitchers on the Os, Rays, and Jays should get graded on a massive curve for having to face these two line-ups so many times.

“No reason to be nervous. Mo vs. Sox in Fenway.”
I choose to never get nervous when Mo comes in. If he melts down it’s an oh-well moment. But I reserve my nerves for the likes of AJ.
Bottom of the Sox order coming up. Let’s do it Mo…

Russell Martin called Daniel Bard “Josh” Bard. Then said — “I think his name is Josh Bard, but I’m not sure”.
Why woudl you PH Youkilis for Scutaro, who hits Mo great, or for AGon, the league’s leading hitter??????? Not sure I get that.

probably ag. but the Sox have to deal with Texas, which is no fun either. It’s just nice to win one game that is actually wel-pitched and well-played by both teams. About freaking time. I’ve got tickets to the first game of their final series – assume they will still be neck and neck which should make it fun…